Handheld computing devices have become increasingly popular and now perform many tasks that were previously performed by personal computers. Moreover, many functions of handheld computing devices, such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), are performed by cellular or mobile telephones (sometimes referred to as “smartphones”). As users entrust these electronic devices with their personal data, backup functions may protect a user against data loss, in the event of loss of the device or malfunction.
In the case of mobile electronic devices such as cellular telephones, backup data can be transferred wirelessly to, and also stored at, a remote location such as a server. However, backing up personal data on a remote server raises privacy concerns. Private data may include, for example, banking information in that, in some regions, banking can be carried out using mobile devices, such as cellular telephones. In addition to private data, backup data may include phone codes, configuration data and various applications running on a handset. In this way, if a handset malfunctions or crashes, downloading backed up data may restore a handset to its previous configuration and functionality.
Encryption provides a certain amount of security in transmitting and storing backup data. Each device may contain a key with which to encrypt backup data. However, when a device encrypts data with a key that is specific to the device, only that device may decrypt the data backed up by itself. If that device is lost, severely malfunctions or is destroyed, restoring backed up data may be difficult or impossible.
Additionally, when backup data contains phone codes, configuration data and various applications that run on a handset, some process may be desired to prevent propagation of the backup data from one device to another, unless the device is lost, severely malfunctions or is destroyed. These protective measures may be needed to ensure that the relevant usage rights are observed. For example, an expensive gaming software purchased by a user usually grants that user the right to use the software on a only single device. Similarly, a user should not be allowed to benefit from services that have not been paid for by using the scheme of backing up the phone codes and configuration data from one device and restoring them to another.
Thus, there is an opportunity to more securely transfer private data to protect a user against data loss. There is also an opportunity to appropriately transfer data such that the backup data is properly propagated and usage rights are complied with.